Parity Floats Their Boats

Five races, five different winners.

It’s called “parity” in other forms of racing, but for the roostertail-tossing unlimited hydroplanes it ought to be called “unbelievable.”

Although many weekend sporting events have been canceled or postponed because of Tuesday’s terrorist attacks, the hydroplanes will hold to their schedule. The three-ton boats, capable of speeds upward of 200 mph, will close their season this weekend on San Diego’s Mission Bay as part of the city’s annual Bayfair festival.

“We feel it is absolutely critical to continue with Bayfair, an event which is imbedded in the fabric of our community, and represents the kind of annual tradition we hold sacred,” said Bayfair president Jim Kidrick.

“It will be good for all people to gather and spend time together, during this moment of great challenge, to see each other, talk and remind ourselves we live in a great, free country.”

Qualifying is set for Saturday with heats and the championship final Sunday.

Not since 1988 have five boats taken the checkered flag in the same season, and that year there were nine races.

Fans of the unlimiteds had grown so used to seeing owner Bernie Little’s red Miss Budweiser and driver Dave Villwock out in front that it was getting boring, hurting the sport.

For years, the flamboyant Little, a retired beer distributor who has close ties to the brewing Busch family of St. Louis, has supported his favorite sport by sponsoring races (two this year) and the series (it’s the Budweiser Unlimited Hydroplane Series) as well as putting the fastest boats on the water.

Villwock, his driver, won six of seven races last year, seven of 10 in 1999 and eight of 10 in 1988, and boats named Miss Budweiser have won 15 of the last 17 championships.

Villwock won the 2001 opener on the Ohio river at Evansville, Ind., but since then the winners have been Steve David at Madison, Ind.; Mike Hanson in the Gold Cup on the Detroit river, Terry Troxell at Tri-Cities, Wash., and Nate Brown in Seattle.

What happened?

Gary Garbrecht, a former driver and marine engineer, formed a new company, Hydro-Prop, with Little a year ago and took over the sport from the American Power Boat Assn.

“I told Bernie, if we’re going to be 50-50 partners, he was responsible for bringing money into the sport, but he was not going to have a say in running the sport,” Garbrecht said after arriving in San Diego to run this weekend’s race on the two-mile Bill Muncey course.

“I think Bernie realized that the sport had reached the point where it was about dead and he realized that it didn’t make much sense for Budweiser to dominate a sport that was dying.

“I told him what unlimiteds needed was a dictator, like Bill France in NASCAR and Bernie Eccelstone in Formula One, and I was going to be it.”

Little agreed, surprising a lot of people who remembered the old days when he was involved in nearly every decision.

Garbrecht came up with new rules, all designed to create deck-to-deck competition among the few boats hanging on.

“The first thing I did was increase the boat weight 450 pounds, giving the older boats a chance,” he said.

“Then, what I think was the most significant change, was to outlaw special parts for the turbines. The big dollar teams [i.e. Budweiser] had been making their own lightweight parts that gave them a big advantage. Now they must use stock parts.

“The other major change was in determining lane assignments. We have four formats. One, I can line them up according to points, the fastest boat in Lane 1 and so on. Two, I can invert them, putting the fastest boat in Lane 6. Three, I can have a blind draw. And four, I can have them race for the lanes.

“This year, I have used them all, but they never know which way I’ll go until a couple of hours before the final. I make my choice on what I think will be best for the fans and I think it’s working out well.

“Basically, we’ve turned it back into a drivers’ race instead of an owners’ race. Having five different winners makes us look good, but to tell the truth, Bernie’s driver has helped parity by screwing up a couple of times. Once he jumped the gun, and in the Gold Cup he spun out before the start.

“Of course, in the past, Miss Budweiser had such a performance advantage that he was able to make a mistake and still run the rest of them down and win. Not anymore, and I think it’s frustrating him a little.

“But you know what I tell everyone, Bernie included: ‘I’m running the show and if I think it’ll help the show, I’ll make a rule change on the spot if necessary.’ If the guys don’t like it, I tell them they should go race cars, or something else.”

Little, 75, said he hated having only one win and having the championship still on the line, but admitted that Garbrecht was helping his sport.

“Things are not to my liking, obviously--I like to win every time out,” he said from an airport in Florida where he was hoping to take off in time for Saturday’s qualifying.

“In all sincerity, though, my hat’s off to Gary. I know I’m not an easy person to get along with, but I gave my word that I’d never bother him, and I haven’t.”

The heyday of the unlimiteds isn’t back yet, but there are major signs of improvement. Thirteen boats, a record for San Diego, are expected when qualifying begins on Mission Bay.

Vintage Cars

Among the cars and drivers in this weekend’s historic Goodwood Revival Meeting vintage car races in England will be a 1963 Shelby Cobra Le Mans coupe, driven by Los Angeles dentist Ernie Nagamatsu and Lyn St. James. They will be in a Tourist Trophy race for 1960-63 GT cars that will include Jaguar E-types driven by Stirling Moss and Jackie Oliver, and an Aston Martin driven by Jack Brabham.

“This event is now considered as the best vintage racing event in the world,” Nagamatsu said.

More lyrical was Vintage Motorsport magazine, which said, “Attending the Revival in any capacity is to discover the Holy Grail of vintage racing; it’s an indelible experience.”

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The 1967 Spa-winning F-1 Eagle Gurney-Weslake V-12 Grand Prix car, driven by Dan Gurney and built in Santa Ana by All-American Racers, has been fully restored and will be taken to the U.S. Grand Prix in Indianapolis later this month before moving to its permanent home in the Miles Collier Museum in Naples, Fla.

It is the only American-built, American-driven car to have won a Formula One race.

Last Laps

Irwindale Speedway will hold a Fan Appreciation Night on Saturday, featuring $5 admission and $1 hot dogs. Bob DeFazio, track general manager, said the track will accept donations for the American Red Cross for victims of Tuesday’s terrorist attacks ....

California Speedway’s opening day for its street-legal drag strip proved a huge success. Nearly 1,000 cars raced down the quarter-mile strip Saturday and Sunday. The next races are Sept. 22-23 and Oct. 6-7....

To no one’s great surprise, CART has pulled the plug on its Dayton Indy Lights series and will run only the Toyota Atlantic series as its development program. Some Indy Lights races this year drew as few as 11 cars.... Former midget car owner Rollie Helmling has been named to succeed the retiring John Capels as president of the United States Auto Club....

Chris Carr has clinched his third AMA Grand National dirt-track championship.... The national championship AMA Superbike race at Willow Springs Raceway, scheduled for Sunday, has been canceled after being postponed Wednesday. AMA and track officials said there was no available date for the event. The Superbike season ends Sept. 28-30 at the new Virginia International Speedway.